Antiques Roadshow Behind the Scenes: An Insider's Guide to PBS's #1 Weekly Show

INTRODUCTION

Cameraman Randy Gray and Marsha Bemko look for the perfect shot.

One of the proudest aspects of my life—besides being a parent—is being at the helm of Antiques Roadshow, arguably the most popular, long-running television series to ever appear on PBS. There is a quote I heard years ago—unfortunately, I am no longer sure who said it or when—but it maintained that there are just three brands in the field of antiques: eBay, Sotheby’s (or was it Christie’s?), and Antiques Roadshow. Each week, about 10 million viewers tune in to watch Roadshow, and with such a large audience, no matter where I go, people know about our show. On the rare occasion when they don’t, they tend to ask something like, Is that the show where people find out if they have something worth a lot of money?

Well, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t, is my typical answer. One observation about our lucky guests with items that are worth five and six figures (a fairly uncommon occurrence) is that if the object was inherited, usually the owner does not want to sell it. The sentimental value exceeds the monetary worth by a wide margin. However, for those truly lucky guests who have paid a small sum for a very valuable object or perhaps rescued a treasure from the trash, making a quick and easy profit almost always is an option to be considered. But remember this: Someone out there actually sold the item for a pittance— or threw it away—without knowing its significant worth. As executive producer of Antiques Roadshow, one of my goals is to make certain that unfortunate person is not you! In other words, our show is more about education than it is about money.

Officially, I am the executive producer of Roadshow, which means that I am the ultimate decision-maker about virtually everything that happens on the show. That said, television is a team sport, and the staff and crew of Antiques Roadshow are superb, with in-the-trenches, hands-on roles of putting the show together and making it happen. It almost takes a village to produce Antiques Roadshow. When we go on the road for taping, we take with us fifteen full-and part-time, year-round staff, plus four summertime freelancers. In addition, there are twenty-five crew members from Boston and beyond backed up by an additional fifteen drawn from the local area. The local PBS station provides 110 volunteers, each of whom receive an official Antiques Roadshow shirt and the right to bring an item to be appraised— a very coveted perk. There are about seventy-five appraisers who donate their travel and services to be part of the show and a top-notch security staff (whose numbers cannot be divulged), which vigilantly insures the safety of our guests and staff during every taping event.

The Roadshow Crew —it almost takes a village to produce each episode.

HOW TO GET TICKETS TO ANTIQUES ROADSHOW

Tickets are free! But there is a two-ticket limit per household either when obtained online or by sending in a postcard.

Tickets are available to adults who are residents of either the United States or Canada.

The application process usually begins in January and closes in April. Check our Web site pbs.org/antiques for specifics.

Name, mailing address, and a valid e-mail address are necessary to apply online.

From the applications received, 3,200 pairs of tickets will be issued, another 250 pairs will be given to the local PBS station to distribute for promotional and fund-raising purposes, plus another 250 pairs for complimentary purposes, and another 100 pairs to be distributed to local community organizations for a total of 3,800 pairs of tickets altogether. The recipients of the 3,200 pairs of tickets will be selected by random drawing, and it does not matter if an application is made early or at the deadline. Everyone has an equal chance of being selected.

E-mail notification to successful applicants will be sent in May, and tickets will be mailed approximately three weeks prior to the event date.

Our taping events happen on our summer tour, which is an exciting and invigorating time for me even though I have often called it my own private hell. But this is really just a bit of drama born from the demands of the day and the utter exhaustion that comes after a minimum of twelve hours of taping, which starts before 8:00 in the morning and can go well into the night. When it’s all over, however, I do love all the excitement and rushing around the floor from appraiser to appraiser seeing what they have to show me and making The Picks of the items that will ultimately be taped. I never tire of hearing peoples’ stories, the fascinating glimpses into history, the enthusiasm of the crowd waiting to see the appraisers, all the hubbub and commotion, and the excitement of both the appraisers and the guests over the treasures we see. This can be a very emotional experience for those who come to Roadshow—sometimes there are tears of joy and other times tears of disappointment.

This past year, one of our appraisers, Don Cresswell, was pitching an 1885 print to me in the hopes that we might tape it. The guest who owned the print was accompanied by his daughter and they told me the picture had been a prized possession of his wife’s. She loved the Roadshow, had applied for tickets, gotten them, and couldn’t wait to come. Sadly, she died six months before Roadshow came to town, and her husband was presenting the print to us in her honor.

I replied, Oh, that is so sad, and we hugged. When I stepped back, our eyes met and I felt his deep and abiding pain. We were both silent, and I hoped that if neither one of us talked, I could gulp the tears down. No such luck. Tears fell down both our faces, and then the daughter started. We all hugged, and thankfully, a guest who had been watching the whole thing ran up with a handful of tissues to stem the flood. I have cried while watching footage before, but never in front of a guest. That was the first, and so far the only, time.

For each city we visit, we receive thousands of requests for tickets—sometimes tens of thousands of requests. In the beginning, we didn’t issue tickets and admitted guests on a first-come-first-served basis. At one of our earlier tapings, our now-head of security had to turn away more than 6,000 people, many of whom had waited in line all day to come in and see an appraiser. He reports that he was concerned there would be a riot and that he might have had to control an angry mob. Now we distribute tickets with hourly appointment times, but still, we cannot possibly see everyone who wants to come to Antiques Roadshow (I wish we could!). For every event, we provide a total of 3,800 pairs of tickets. That breaks down to 3,200 pairs of tickets distributed to the public, along with an additional 250 pairs that are allotted to the local PBS station to help them with fund-raising and to generate a little excitement; another 100 pairs to be distributed to local community organizations; and 250 pairs for appraiser, staff, and corporate underwriter comps.

On the day of the event, we have between seventy-five and eighty experts (drawn from a pool of about 150) ready to meet the 5,000 to 6,000 people who show up. Despite all the intensity surrounding the acquistion of tickets, about 20 percent of the people who have tickets do not show up. I cannot imagine why there are so many no-shows, but according to the ticketing experts we consulted, this is about normal for events with free tickets.

Between 5,000 and 6,000 guests bring treasures large and small to each event.

MARSHA’S MUSINGS

We tried using a professional ticket distributor, but between the cost and our random-selection process it was more efficient to distribute tickets ourselves. Besides, now every attendee gets a specially designed Roadshow ticket as a memento.

Starting around 6:00 AM on the day of the event, those guests holding 8:00 AM tickets (that is, first-entry tickets) begin to arrive, and we try to let them in a little early, usually around 7:30 or 7:45. We have people of all ages and physical conditions, from very young children to older folks in wheelchairs, all waiting eagerly to get into the building to see the appraisers. The children are usually clutching a little treasure. But what they are hoping for, like most of the adults, is to be on television.

In these pages, I tell the inside story of the making of Antiques Roadshow and share my insights with all those who love Roadshow. In the chapter Success, Setbacks, and Serendipity, I tell the largely unpublished and unknown story of how Roadshow began, and in another chapter we will go "On the Road with Roadshow" and explore every aspect of a day’s taping.

One of the most exciting parts of the chapter, "What to Bring to Antiques Roadshow" is a discussion of selecting the items that will be taped for possible inclusion in a future episode. We follow the teams (one headed by myself) that are making what we call The Picks, and just a hint: It is the appraiser’s enthusiasm and the story that goes along with the item that can make all the difference between being on television and not making the cut.

I also outline what happens after the taping is done, how we put the show together, and the ways we meticulously fact-check in order to try and eliminate mistakes —such as the one an appraiser made when she said that a miniature portrait painting on porcelain from the late 1700s or early 1800s had been painted in West Virginia. Well, West Virginia per se did not exist until the time of the Civil War, so using the state name was an anachronism.

What the appraiser meant to say was that the piece had been painted in western Virginia. It was a seemingly small error, a three-letter little slip of the tongue, but it was a mistake that had to be corrected. After all, in addition to teaching the public about art, antiques, and collectibles, we’re also teaching history, and accuracy is extremely important. Fortunately, we did manage to turn west into western Virginia on the tape, which allowed us to air the segment after all.

Behind the Scenes tells a lot of stories from the appraisers’ points of view so you can get to know them better. Our experts explore what to bring and what not to bring to Antiques Roadshow, and some of them share their stories about how they became appraisers, how they developed their special interests— and how those of you with a passion for antiques and history might be able to follow a similar path.

I’m very committed to providing information readers can take away with them. For example, this book includes an appendix that lists all the reference books as well as other books of interest, associations and collectors clubs, and interesting Web sites we use as we travel around the country.

Still another chapter, Antiques Across America, explores some of the best and most interesting items we have found in our journeys around the country since 1996—Roadshow’s first summer tour. There is a lot of WOW! and Imagine finding that in your attic or at a flea market! But there also are rare glimpses into family histories and fascinating explorations of America’s past.

In addition, I know viewers are interested in what happens after the lights go off and Roadshow leaves town. What do our guests do with their objects? Do they sell them, and are they happy with the results? Do some items go to museums? Or is the information obtained at Roadshow used to ensure that future generations will understand the monetary value and importance of an object when it is passed down in their family? And if so, is the piece properly preserved for posterity? One of the chapters I like best is Missing Masterpieces—what they are and if they turn up at Antiques Roadshow. The appraisers let you in on what they consider to be masterpieces, what they personally have seen while sitting at a Roadshow table, and what missing masterpiece they are hunting for and would like to see come through the door at a future Roadshow event. There is also key information on how you can recognize such a piece if you should be lucky enough to happen upon it. Sometimes, a masterpiece can be rather unassuming. In Tucson, Arizona, in 2001, while on our sixth tour, a gentleman brought in a Navajo blanket to be appraised. It was brown, blue, and white, and if it were displayed near many other Navajo blankets, with their bright colors and intricate design, most laypeople would dismiss it as being much too plain and drab to have a substantial value.

This seemingly plain blanket turned out to be one of the most monetarily valuable items ever brought to Roadshow. It was a first-phase Ute-style blanket (so named because the Ute Indians favored this Navajo design) made circa 1820, and was judged to be worth between $350,000 and $500,000 at the time. Needless to say, the owner was weak-kneed and flabbergasted at the unexpected good news.

The blanket held the honor of being the most valuable find until our visit to Palm Springs, California, during Season 13, when a guest brought in an early Clyfford Still painting. The blanket moved to third place in Season 14 when we taped our first million-dollar appraisal—but more on that later.

I have a lot to cover in the following pages, so sit back, turn the page, and learn all you ever wanted to know about the inside workings of Antiques Roadshow—from its ultimate insider.

This simple Navajo blanket was valued between $350,000 and $500,000!

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SUCCESS, SETBACKS & SERENDIPITY

The first American Roadshow took place in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1996 with appraisers. Titi Halle (middle) and Jo Kris (right)

The original Antiques Roadshow was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1979 and was the brainchild of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which is the world’s largest broadcasting company. This was a very British show that was often taped outdoors with very proper appraisers conversing charmingly and politely with guests, who were often somewhat reserved in their reaction to the information they were receiving.

Roadshow did not come to the United States until almost seventeen years later when it debuted on PBS in 1997 (from tapings that occurred on the 1996 summer tour). The journey of this extremely popular show across the Atlantic was a surprisingly difficult one, and only the vision of one man, Peter S. McGhee, made the trip possible at all.

But first there was Dan Farrell.

The story of the Roadshow’s journey from England to America has never been fully told—at least not in print—and many people who work on the American version of Roadshow today are not familiar with the twists and turns in the saga. Antiques Roadshow in America almost did not happen, and what follows is a short exploration of how the Roadshow finally did make it to the United States and onto our television screens.

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW: TAKE ONE

Dan Farrell was in the film business in London. As he puts it, he took charge of special financial effects, meaning that he was involved more in the money end of the business as opposed to the production of motion pictures or television programs. He had a banking background and was not passionately interested in antiques at all.

Antiques were always a part of my life, he explains, because they were always around in my family home, in my grandmother’s home, and in the homes of my aunts. The antiques were really just there, the way a sofa is just there or the table at which a family eats is just there. To Farrell, antiques were very much like stage props that the inhabitants of the house sit on or use as needed. They were not something that he thought about very much.

I was not a collector, he states. "But my wife and I would spend pleasant New England afternoons driving around looking at the antiques in the various shops. It was a weekend diversion, not a hobby or avocation.

"Then while I was living in London, I happened to turn on the television and there was Antiques Roadshow. It was new at the time, and I was fascinated by it. I knew that many great American television shows were based on British originals. All in the Family, for example, was based on Till Death Us Do Part, while Three’s Company was inspired by Man About the House."

It would be hard to imagine bigger television hits than these, and the early eighties was the dawn of cable network television in the United States. Farrell reasoned that there might be a place on the newly expanding American television for Antiques Roadshow, and thought, "Maybe this is something I should take back to the States.

Peter S. McGhee had an amazing influence on American television. Frontline, American Experience, Rock & Roll and many other landmark series on PBS were created and produced under his watch. He championed the idea to put Antiques Roadshow on PBS. Aida Moreno, the show’s first executive producer, deserves credit for the startup of the series. She and her team developed many procedures still in use today.

"I approached an agent in London who got me in contact with the BBC to see if a deal could be reached. The arrangements were made and the BBC expressed their willingness to sell me the North American rights to Antiques Roadshow. So, I got together the lawyers and the agents and crafted an agreement that the BBC accepted.

"The original agreement was signed in October 1981. The document was just a couple of pages, hardly more than a good-sized letter. I acquired the North American rights in perpetuity to the Roadshow format. When Norman Lear and the other producers of American television sitcoms based on British shows acquired the rights, they got somewhat more than I did, including such things as scripts, characters, and plot ideas.

GOING FOR A SONG

According to Simon Shaw, the current series editor of the British version of Antiques Roadshow, Roadshow had its beginning as an outgrowth of a program called Going for a Song.There was a meeting for ideas to update the program Shaw said. The production had been receiving a lot of letters saying, ‘I’ve got one of those... how much is it worth?’ Someone at the meeting mentioned that auction houses did ‘sweeps’ where they sent two or three experts to a town for a day or two to discreetly value people’s items and wondered if this would translate into a program. From this meeting, Antiques Roadshow would grow and become something of a phenomenon on the BBC. Perhaps it was a bit surprising to some, but the show was a dramatic success: 15 million viewers watched it in the UK every week at the height of its popularity. Most importantly, its audience crossed all demographic barriers. Christopher Lewis, the second executive producer of the British Antiques Roadshow, reasons that Roadshow was a hit because it was a kind of a game show in which everybody has a prize to begin with and the ‘contestants’ are just trying to find out if it is worth anything. Farrell agrees and contends that, "Roadshow is, in fact, a kind of treasure hunt."

Today, many people are astounded that I got the rights in perpetuity, but maybe nobody was paying much attention at the time. I did not pay a great deal of money and remember, I was using my own money and buying it just for myself. The BBC may have thought that any money at all was money they did not have, for a product they didn’t have any prospects of selling to anyone else.

When I got back to the United States, Farrell continues, "I made an effort to get it on the air. I called up the new cable channels with a mass market and got a friendly reception until I mentioned that the show was about antiques. At that point, you could almost see it through the phone: Their eyes glazed over and all interest was lost. They thought that not enough Americans were interested in the subject matter, and that those who were, did not fit into the correct demographic.

Dan Farrell is the man who believed in the American version of Antiques

Roadshow when no one else did.

Over the next thirteen years, Farrell says, "I made a few dents, but could get no traction. Then, I was approached by the New York office of the BBC who said they wanted to become involved in getting an American version of Antiques Roadshow on the air. Part of our problem in my view was that we only had the British version of Roadshow to show to the American television people, and we really needed to show the program in the American idiom."

At this point, Farrell approached Skinner, the major Boston auction house, to propose that he and his team do a taping at one of Skinner’s discovery-day sessions. "This was about 1994. I decided to bring someone in to host, and I asked Monty Hall of Let’s Make a Deal fame to come to Boston and do the job. He was a friend and he agreed to do it just for his expenses.

"All we wanted to do was make a short reel to show Antiques Roadshow in the American style, Farrell remembers. We were only going to tape for three or four hours and produce a tape that was ten or fifteen minutes long." It was to be a kind of